transformers Review

The Transformers franchise gets a much needed tuneup in Bumblebee.

By Jim Vejvoda

After years of cinematic scrap heaps, Bumblebee redeems and reinvigorates the Transformers live-action film franchise with some heartfelt fun. It might not be a great movie or a radical reimagination of the familiar concept, but this ‘80s-set prequel does strip away all the clutter and bloat that had piled onto the series over the last decade and refocuses on the bond between young human and ‘bot that it all began with back in 2007.

Much of this refreshing change is due to Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) stepping in as director after Michael Bay helmed the first five movies. Knight and screenwriter Christina Hodson’s story gives its human protagonist, Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), more depth and more of an arc than either Shia LaBeouf or Mark Wahlberg’s protagonists received, which creates more of an opportunity for emotional investment. This emphasis on finding the humanity in the story and providing an actual character arc thankfully extends to its Autobot title character as well.

Bumblebee has an emotional journey here, starting off as basically the robot equivalent of a fearless young soldier at war before going through a sort of lost-puppy phase while on Earth. He can be earnest and vulnerable but also dangerous and formidable. Knight’s background in animation certainly helps here as Bumblebee’s facial expressions and body language articulate a range of emotions that make it easy to become invested in him and his plight.

Thanks to a cleaner stylistic redesign that more closely resembles the original Transformers cartoon characters, each ’bot is more distinctive (especially during the fight scenes) than they sometimes were in the Bay films – you can actually appreciate the transformations here without them devolving into digital blurs of a million moving parts, and you can get an idea at a glance what vehicle a given robot might transform into.

Bumblebee also wisely avoids confusion by narrowing down the number of Transformers shown on screen, largely focusing on just three main ones (Bumblebee and the Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick) while keeping Optimus Prime and others on the sidelines. There’s still not much dimension to the Decepticons, mind you, but Angela Bassett brings a distinctly menacing gravitas to her vocal performance as Shatter (the films’ first female ‘bot baddie).

Bumblebee and Charlie’s relationship is at the heart of the story, but each character also gets their own respective arcs and emotional goals. Through her bond with Bumblebee, Charlie confronts the fears and pain she’s been struggling with since the loss of her dad, while Bumblebee rediscovers his purpose thanks to the encouragement and guidance he receives from Charlie. Steinfeld’s sincere performance grounds the movie, even though her character does have a few too many “surly teenager” tropes.

While John Cena gets a few amusing moments as well as Sector 7 Agent Burns, his driven, physically imposing character is a recurring obstacle for Charlie, Bumblebee and their pal Memo (Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as a tacked-on character who is almost literally along for the ride). But Bumblebee even takes the time to give Burns a small character arc here as a soldier confronted with a new kind of foe he doesn’t understand.

Bumblebee smartly drops a lot of the convolutions and overly complicated MacGuffins that marked the prior films. This movie doesn’t necessarily reject the canon established in the Bay films – it is definitely a prequel to 2007’s Transformers – but it also purposefully sidesteps a lot of the history depicted in the first five installments. Did the Transformers still visit ancient Earth at some point before Bumblebee and the two Decepticons arrive in northern California in 1987? Maybe, maybe not. It’s left vague. In that way, Bumblebee is a bit of a soft reset for the series, holding onto those elements that worked and ditching the baggage.

Bumblebee is an ‘80s movie through and through, not just in terms of its period setting but also in its execution, establishing a tone and pace reminiscent of your typical Amblin production of that era and of teen-driven genre flicks like WarGames and Short Circuit. But the ‘80s callbacks and Easter eggs here are relentless, with nearly every scene including a music cue or a reference. I get it! It’s 1987! If Bumblebee was an ‘80s reference drinking game you’d be dead from alcohol poisoning by the midpoint. While the humor is nowhere near as groan-inducing as it was in the Bay movies, not all the jokes land and comedy just isn’t Steinfeld’s strong suit. She’s far better at the heartfelt and dramatic moments.

The Verdict

Bumblebee is the best live-action Transformers movie since the 2007 film, even though it doesn’t quite recapture the wow factor of seeing the robots in disguise come to life that very first time. But it does wisely bring the series back to basics in its character-driven storytelling and simplified approaches to both Transformer designs and visual effects, and by jettisoning the excess and nonsensical storytelling that had come to define the franchise. It was nice to enjoy a Transformers movie again.